Full Text

1 In Afric’s northern coastland
When Mother Church was young,
Was born the holy woman
Of whom this hymn is sung.
O Monica, beloved
before God thee we own,
Our constant intercessor
Before his heav’nly throne.

2 Exemplar for all mothers,
And patron saint of wives,
She led her spouse and children
In holy, Christian lives.
Affection, patience, wisdom,
True zeal and constancy:
With these gifts God endowed her
And holy Charity.

3 Saint Monica entreated
The throne of heav’nly grace,
That her dear son, Augustine
The Gospel might embrace.
Her tearful prayers were answered,
Her heart no longer riven;
Confessor, bishop, doctor
She to the Church has giv’n.

4 In Ostia’s port, Augustine
Heard her last dying word;
He wished his mother’s body
In Afric’s soil interred.
“No place is far from God,”
Was her most urgent plea;
“When at God’s holy altar
Do there remember me.”

5 O Saint of perseverance
Be with us as we pray;
That we with zeal and ardor
Might serve our God alway;
To whom we raise our praises
As will be ever meet,
To Father, Son Eternal
And Holy Paraclete.

Text Information

Tune

Henry T. Smart (PHH 233) composed the tune in 1835 for use at a missions festival at Blackburn, Lancashire, England. For that festival, which celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation in England, the tune was set to Reginald Heber's (PHH 249) “From Greenland's Icy Mountains.”…